The holy, glorious and right-victorious HieromartyrDionysius the Areopagite was baptized by SaintPaul in Athens and is numbered among the Seventy Apostles. Prior to this, Dionysius grew up in a notable family in Athens, attended philosophical school at home and abroad, was married and had several children, and was a member of the highest court in Greece, the Areopagus. After his conversion to the True Faith, St. Paul made him Bishop of Athens. Eventually he left his wife and children for Christ and went with St. Paul in missionary travel. He travelled to Jersusalem specifically to see the Most Holy Theotokos and writes of his encounter in one of his books. He was also present at her Dormition.

Seeing St. Paul martyred in Rome, St. Dionysius desired to be a martyr as well. He went to Gaul, along with his presbyter Rusticus and the deacon Eleutherius, to preach the Gospel to the barbarians . There his suffering was equalled only by his success in converting many pagans to Christianity.

In the year 96, St. Dionysius was seized and tortured for Christ, along with Rusticus and Eleutherius, and all three were beheaded under the reign of the Emperor Domitian. St. Dionysius' head rolled a rather long way until it came to the feet of Catula, a Christian. She honorably buried it along with his body. His feast day is celebrated on October 3.

Many famous books are attributed to St. Dionysius, including: The Divine Names of God, Celestial and Ecclesiastical Hierarchies and Mystical Theology. Many scholars doubt that the apostle himself wrote these works, often calling the author "Pseudo-Dionysius"; supporting the notion that a fifth-century Syrian student, of the pagan Neoplatonist Proclus, a controversial in nature theory. citation needed On the one hand they have been accused of "employing Neoplatonic language to elucidate Christian theological and mystical ideas."1 Yet they have also been defended by scholars such as Hieromonk Golitzin as a fully Christian liturgical theology (Et introibo ad altare dei: The Mystagogy of Dionysius Areopagita (Thessalonika, 1994)), while Vladimir Lossky places the insights of Ps-Dionysius as fundamental to any Christian theology (The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church).